I'm back. Finally found the time to get this darn thing working again. Technology, to you I say "Bah!". I used to be good at this stuff you know. In the 90's... ;-]
March 01, 2011
March 26, 2009
March 19, 2009
The life you want to live experiment - day four
Well...today it's more about the house!
The walls are painted in eau de nil, white, warm greys and blues. Most of them are covered in oil paintings I've collected or painted myself and embroideries like these on Janick's Flickr site:
Geoff now writes and directs films for a living, which are produced in our own studios. He has found a way to manage his business so that I can focus on mine. We are so thrilled to be able to do what we both love. He spends a great deal of time with me and the children as his filming schedule only takes up a few months in the year.
The life you want to live experiment - day three
photo by allaboutleah
One of the things I really enjoy about my house is having new bathrooms and new kitchen. When your tiles and ceramic ware are new, they are so much easier to keep clean!
I also love how I've painted the interiors. I used Portman's Paints for their delicate, natural colour palette. The walls look soft and inviting yet a little modern too. I can use groovy patterns when I want to update the look. A lot of my furniture is fairly timeless and comfort is the key. I've avoided modern furniture keeping contemporary touches to light fittings and soft furnishings which are less expensive to update!
It gives a wonderful relaxed atmosphere to the place and combined with my diverse range of artworks makes it a haven for me.
March 12, 2009
The life you want to live experiment - day two
photo by rahulaa
My home is a large, gracious place with deep verandahs, surrounded by fruit trees and flowers. Lorikeets come there to eat, and other small birds which I think might be finches. I love the smell of the garden in the evening, as the warmth of the day lingers and frangipani, star jasmine and gardenia combine.
We are so lucky to live here, on such a generous block and still so close the city. Whenever I pull up in my car - I've finally bought an electric one - or arrive on my powder-blue Vespa I love looking at how pretty it is. There are deep, productive vegetable and herb beds, as well as a gorgeous pool and gazebo nearby for entertaining my friends. We have some fun nights there with bbq's and evening swims!
The children love living here and have wonderful parties with their friends. At night Geoff and I sit on our deck, watching the sunset and sipping wine. Sometimes I go there to paint the changes in the light.
My studio is upstairs and huge, with large windows to let in lots of light, big tables running down the centre and metal cabinets and racks to hold all my paintings and sketches. It smells of linseed oil and oriental lilies which I love to have on the table.
I really enjoy cleaning and caring for our home because it is so easy to keep it looking good. The two bathrooms and kitchen are new. Geoff and I have fun trying to cook special dishes all the time. Everything is so well organised and the storage is clever, I now have places to put the things I love without it ever looking cluttered. I've even got room to set up the sewing machine and over-locker!
On Monday mornings, after I've seen the kids off to school and gone for a walk, I spend my time updating my blog, answering emails and filling out orders - I've got lots of orders but it's very easy as most of them are done online (my clients can download pdfs of my patterns or log-in to my online classes). I love my blog - I had the logo and header designed professionally and it really makes a difference. I've also learned to take much better photographs, which has helped make my work more appealing. Other mornings are spent designing and making up samples of my projects (I have a sewer to help with this) or whatever is taking my attention creatively at the time.
March 11, 2009
21 days to the life you want to live - the experiment
I'm trying a new experiment. I'm going to blog for 21 days as if I am living the exact life I really want to. It's a fantasy diary which will keep me focused on what I really want. I intend to see whether visualisation really works by testing the ideas behind the popular book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
The challenges for me will be:
- whether I can keep it up for 21 days (commitment to things that are purely for my own enjoyment is not usually my strong point)
- ensuring I include visual stimuli to strengthen the process (getting suitable images takes T.I.M.E)
- overcoming my inhibitions about putting my desires out there for everyone/anyone to read. Fortunately this is a quiet little blog so this is probably a needless anxiety!
DAY ONE
On Saturday morning's I get up early and go for a walk around my neighborhood before any of the family is awake. The house is clean and tidy (I have a cleaner come on Fridays), so when I come home I just make breakfast. Though often, by the time I arrive back, Geoff has something waiting for me.
photo by Posy!
Then I spend an hour in the studio catching up on my blog.
We take O to ballet then and while he's there we go for a stroll down Oxford Street to pick up fresh milk, bread and the newspaper (which I never read but it makes good mulch for the garden). After O's class we hang out at the park on Riding Road, skateboarding or on our bikes until it's N's time for her lesson.
Geoff takes O home and I either have a coffee with a friend or spend time reading or sewing one of my latest projects. I often bring a thermos with me because I love a hot drink of tea or coffee in the mornings.
Saturday's have become such a peaceful day now that Geof and I have so much free time during the week. We don't mind concentrating on the kids so much, as we are already quite relaxed even before the weekend starts.
In the afternoon, Geoff spends a while in our comfortable, beautifully designed kitchen making something delicious for dinner using fresh ingredients from our garden. The children play in the back yard with their friends while I work in the studio drawing, painting, crafting and keeping up-to-date with my web log and etsy site. Orders and paperwork are for Monday mornings, when I go over these with my personal assistant. ;-]
Many Saturday nights I spend having friends over. We have dinner on the deck, play games, watch movies and sometimes we even do play readings - just for fun. It makes us all feel like we're university students.
When we don't have visitors, Geoff and I like to sit together in the bench-swing, listening to music. Sometimes he plays guitar.
Of course, I've lost a stack of weight and it was soooo easy. ;-] I now forget to eat sometimes because I enjoy working in my art/craft business so much. It feels more like play to me.
On weekdays, I pick the kids up myself from school - I've got the time to walk there. When we come home I cook a healthy meal while they play, then we eat and it's homework time. They are doing so well at school now. It's such a source of pride for us.
February 27, 2009
Festival of happy
I haven't done a post for over three months. When I look back over our family photos I can see why. We've been so busy! First there was Halloween which isn't normally celebrated by Australians. However, it's starting to catch on for some reason.
We attended the Oxford Street trick or treat, organised by local businesses, which was a safe(r) time for the kids. O was gobsmacked that people were actually giving him sweets for *no reason*. Priceless!
It was *very* hot that afternoon and both the kids started to melt. Nirvali is trying to keep a stiff upper lip here but shortly after this I took them home for some water...and to eat a few goodies.
Then the children went to Mum and Dad's for some holiday time in the fresh air. They rode horses for the first time, had a go on a bike with a neighbour...
...and played in a creek bed, where the water was so clean and sparkly I wish I'd been there to join them. Of course, there may have been leaches, so I might not have!
I'm so grateful to Mum and her friends for giving them such a fantastic holiday. They always come back from Tenterfield changed kids. Nirvali declares that when she's grown up she will be living in the country on a farm. I'm tempted by the thought myself.
The garden was in full swing. We managed to pop down for a weekend and it was in fine form, laden with blossom and bird life. Now if I could just get my garden looking this good...
We all helped feed the cattle next door, too, which was a new experience even for me. Here they are enjoying some cosmos. They got so excited it was really funny (the cows, I mean)!
We stayed at home for Christmas. I cooked the turkey dinner for the first time and managed not to burn it (thanks Mum for the tips). Everything was delicious and we were able to eat the leftovers for days which was very relaxing for me - no worries about deciding what to cook.
Of course, then N started year 2 at school, a bit nervous at first, but when she saw her friends she barely noticed us saying goodbye. It made me feel kinda sad.
Then we went back to work. And that was it for summer. It took about four weeks for my Christmas cheer run out, which I think was pretty good. I'm looking for some fresh cheer now.
So I am starting a vegetable patch, which gives me something to enjoy on the weekends and makes up for all the endless rounds of housework...here is my first pumpkin which was very special. It convinced Geoff to help me build a proper vegetable garden, so I am forever grateful to it!!!
October 03, 2008
Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind"
Just finished this little racy one. I can't tell you how stoked I am when I find a new fantasy author who gets it right from the first page.
When Kwothe's entire family is slaughtered due to a song his father was composing, he searches for further meaning behind the murders. Along the way, he becomes dangerous in his own right, stumbling into success despite poverty and prejudice.
I read this one fast as lightning - Rothfuss makes it look like he can write in his sleep. What a breathtaking debut.
Five stars.
September 15, 2008
Susan Callahan et al. "Mother's Need Time Out Too"
Good to offload a lot of guilt next time you want to do something - anything - for yourself but feel compelled to go clean the bathroom. After reading this I realised that letting go of some things around the house would free me up to have more fun. Sounds like a no-brainer, I know, but you'd be surprised how hard it is for many of us mothers to neglect housework, especially if you're a neat-freak like me.
My children like me a lot more when I'm fun, and although I'm going to spend the rest of the week sleeping on last week's bed linen and watching the shower tiles getting grubby, at least I have some good memories to show for it!
Three stars.
Picasso, wigs, pink hair, art
Been having a lot of fun lately. The little ones dragged out some of my old wigs used in drama performances and we had bit of a laugh pretending we had Big Hair. N looks so different!
However, when I tried it on, channeling my best Cher, well, it looked kinda normal!
Then on Sunday we went on a tour of the PIcasso's Collection exhibition at GOMA. It was so much better than I expected, and our guide, Margaret, had a good grasp of how pieces in his collection had influenced him. I felt pretty refreshed after that, so I went home and worked on this:
Later, N and I thought it would be fun to make her fringe pink. Okay, well maybe, I thought it would be fun and she just went along with it! I used cochineal - like I used to at high school. N was very cooperative and gave me some great poses! She's such a lamb.
One of the most enjoyable weekends I've had in ages. Painting again was like meditating and I came out of it so refreshed. And with chalk all over my legs. O decided that if Mummy was going to paint, he'd raid her art box and use the closest canvas available. I forgot to rub it off and picked N up from a party with it all over me. I don't *think* anyone noticed!
